


Flat Lined

by QuackyDucky



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: :), Angst, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hospitals, Presumed Dead, Ruddiger being best boi, Sickness, The Author Regrets Everything, Varian Has Issues (Disney), Whump, does this qualify as whump?, eh, not beta read we die like men, sad bean Varian, this fic is a little vague in its depictions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:01:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25456636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuackyDucky/pseuds/QuackyDucky
Summary: Set after season 3.Varian catches a sudden illness and has to be admitted into the hospital despite telling everyone that he’s fine. (He’s not fine)The baby faced teen is very lonely, his only company being Ruddiger, but the raccoon can’t talk.Somewhere along the middle of his stay, Varian starts seeing visions of who he thinks is his mother, singing softly in the hospital garden.Is he correct?
Relationships: Rapunzel/Eugene, Varian & Ruddiger, Varian & Varian's Mother (Disney), Varian & sadness, but it’s in the background
Comments: 17
Kudos: 41





	Flat Lined

Varian remembers being told that he’d been admitted into the hospital from suddenly catching a case of really bad fever....Or something along those lines, it’s _really_ unclear.

“I’m fine, honestly.” He'd said before he got admitted, trying to convince his dad that he was alright. “I’m just having a little trouble breathing, that’s all.” But that seemed to cause the reverse effect instead, making his father even _more_ worried about him. 

Varian seems to have a knack for making people unnecessarily worried- it’s not a skill he _enjoys_ having, but one he’s been cursed with having anyway. 

“It’s because you have a baby face and look look 12, Varian. We can’t help but worry.” Eugene had mentioned during his last visit with Rapunzel, both newly engaged.

(About _time_ , he thinks.)

Varian had pouted then, his pride hurt and manliness wounded.

(He misses his goatee sometimes. It made him look grownup and awesome despite everyone else’s words of disagreement. Varian chalks it up to them having bad fashion sense.)

Back on track, for the past few weeks, he’s been stuck in his sterile hospital room, with only the sounds of the small talk of the nurses and Ruddiger sleeping on his lap as his company. 

It’s quite expectedly boring in here, and he _longs_ for some social interaction with all of his heart. Dad’s only visited a few couple times in the past weeks, but he’s reluctantly fine with that.

(Varian doesn’t want to waste his father’s time too much more than he already has.)

Rapunzel and Eugene visit sometimes, but not often enough to make him feel less lonely. But he understands, they’ve got a lot of duties. They simply don’t have enough _time_ to spend on some basic commoner like him.

Varian’s calloused fingers stroke through Ruddiger’s thick fur slowly, feeling the raccoon’s soft breathing against his thigh. He gets reminded of those cold, sleepless nights when the raccoon was his only company, comforting the boy as he cried under the towering amber. 

Varian smiles, it’s a frail thing, not quite reaching his eyes. 

“It’s just you and me now, bud. Like always.” The boy utters quietly, continuing to stroke. Ruddiger doesn’t reply, of course he doesn’t. He’s a raccoon, they can’t talk. 

Sometimes Varian wishes they could.

******

When the nurse visits him that day for his daily medication, he quietly asks her if she could tell tell him what’s been happening in Corona without him, as he’s not allowed to leave his bed at the moment (to his dismay) 

The nurse quickly gives a quick yet vague synopsis and then leaves without a word, leaving Varian alone yet again. 

With a roll of his eyes, he mushes his face against the pillow, planning to take a little nap. Since there’s not really much else for him to do while stuck in bed. Varian sees Ruddiger lie down next to his chest, curling into a ball. He pets the racoon’s head goodnight.

Just as Varian’s about to drift of into a deep slumber, he hears a noise. (How _typical_.) 

It sounds close. Varian prays to whatever deity that might be listening that it isn’t some creepy ghost who’s out to possess his body or something. He strains his ears to hear more.

... 

Actually…The noise sounds like a voice, and it seems to be coming from outside the room. The scrawny teen sits up in a haste, staring at the window on the other side of the room in thought, a thousand ideas going through his head A mile a minute.

His baby blue eyes wander nervously to the door, almost feeling it judging him. ‘ _No, Varian._ ’ It seems to say. A little smirk creeps onto his face. ‘ _Yes Varian_.’ He thinks, ripping the blanket off himself. With the source of heat gone, Ruddiger wakes from his nap, seemingly offended at being wakened.

Varian at least tries to look a little sheepish, letting out a “sorry, bud” before standing up. The nonexistent muscles in his legs have clearly atrophied from unuse, barely able to hold out under his weight. It’d probably look funny to another person, seeing him wobble, but to Varian it’s just an annoyance. 

With the grace of a baby learning to walk, he stubbornly makes it over to the other side of the room, opening the window with a slight creak. Varian’s greeted by a warm summer breeze gently brushing his face.

He can hear the voice more clearly now. It sounds like a woman’s, and it seems to be singing. Varian can’t exactly make out the words to the stranger’s song, but he can recognize an oddly nostalgic melody in her tone, like as if he’s heard it before.

_Weird_.

The gentle strumming of a guitar accompanies the woman’s vocals, her voice coming right from the small hospital garden below, directly under his room. Varian can’t see the woman’s face from up here, only a peek of auburn hair. 

The pink flower petals are carried through the air as if dancing before landing neatly on the ground as if it’s a cushion, and not as if it’s **_rock solid dirt that could kill you if you fell from a height like this-_**

(Varian gulps, taking a reflexive step back from the window. Just as a precaution.)

Varian wonders who this woman is. ‘Cause there’s just something nostalgic about her voice, filled with a gentleness and warmth that envelops his whole body and makes him want to cry. 

It kept him up that night, staring at the ceiling while trying to figure out why the woman sounded so...familiar.

He briefly wonders how such a kind voice can sound so melancholic at the same time.

******

Varian hears her the next day. 

It’s around mid afternoon, just as he’s about to take another nap. He opens the window to let the cool air in, as well as the woman’s voice. Just like last time, she’s sitting in the same garden, except now he can see her better. The woman’s sitting on a bench closer to his hospital room today. 

She looks to be older than him by quite a lot, he’d guess around 35 or 40 going by the wrinkles. Her auburn hair’s tied up into a neat but frizzy bun, stray strands swaying in the slight breeze. 

He still can’t hear the words to the strange woman’s song, but the nostalgic melody has already soothed his tenseness from the doctor’s visit a few hours ago.

It always happens at least once a week. They’ll ask him to take pills so colourful that he could mistake them for candy. 

If only they tasted the same, then maybe he wouldn’t feel sick whenever he took them. If he was really unlucky, he’d be made to eat them in two consecutive days in a week.

Varian wanders back to bed, leaving the window open to bathe in the warm sunshine. He snuggles with Ruddiger, letting a small and fragile, yet real smile crack on his face. 

“She has a great voice, doesn’t she?” He says, but Ruddiger doesn’t respond, he never does. The raccoon just tilts his head in confusion.

...Varian’s lulled to sleep before he can see the raccoon’s concerned glance.

******

Varian has a dream.

He’s 3 again, a time before he knew what alchemy entailed or even was.

He has trouble sleeping and continues twisting and turning on his sheet in frustration.

The boy hears the door to his room creaking open, a tall silhouette peeking in before sighing and settling themself on his bed. ‘ _Probably dad_ ’, he thinks. But the boy’s wrong.

A woman’s voice starts singing a lullaby. It’s a pretty melody, with a pretty voice, but obviously not trained often with like those opera singers he sometimes hears in the capital.

Little Varian turns his head up, confused, meeting face to face with the woman. Seeing her so clearly gives him a sense of deja vu. But why?

Then something seems to click. She has the face of the woman in the painting hanging in the living room, with him as a baby. 

His mother, who died when he was 4.

Varian startles awake with a cold sweat. The boy hears Ruddiger’s concerned critters. So he holds the raccoon tight like a teddy bear, and sits there still.

If a few tears roll down his cheeks, well...that’s only for him and Ruddiger to know.

******

It definitely is a strange way to remember. If he’s ever able to meet the woman, how would he even talk to her? _‘This sounds kinda weird, but you both look and sound exactly like my mom who died when I was 4, but nice to meet you!’_

Varian’s face reddens and he shakes his head, that sounds way too creepy and embarrassing! 

But even if she’s a different person all together, the resemblance is way too uncanny for it to not be true. It has to be his mom, even if it makes no sense... (but the universe has messed with his logic more than once before, so it could totally be a coincidence.) 

The song she sings is like feeling a comforting blanket wrap itself around him, ridding Varian of the loneliness that was threatening to break him apart. He always looks forward to listening to the other sing. 

Varian can feel himself become steadily better as the days pass.

He smiles to himself, recalling the day when the woman he calls mom had finally turned her head around slightly, angling it just right for him to see that pair of bright blue eyes matching his own, accentuated even more by the smile painted on her face.

Varian wants to at least tell the woman how much she helped him in his recovery. 

...

Maybe one day, he will.

******

Today, the doctors allowed Varian to walk outside of his hospital room for the first time. It went painfully slow and he felt like an old lady. But he endured it, he had a goal after all. Still has.

Have a conversation with that woman.

Now, as many things in life, that’s easier said than done, but he can at least try?

  
Like dad always says unless it’s related to alchemy. “Better try and make a fool out of yourself than not trying and regretting it for the rest of your life.” 

  
Varian never understood that saying more than he does now. It’s likely one of the last times he would ever hear the woman’s singing again, as he’s recovering, so why not try?

As he’s stretching his legs to prepare for the journey to the garden, a familiar blur of of auburn swooshes past his open door, frightening Ruddiger slightly.

It’s the woman from the garden!

Quickly, Varian slips his bunny slippers on and tugs his precious goggles closer to his body. He peeks out of the doorway and into the corridor, pondering if his eyes really weren’t deceiving him. But then he sees the woman’s back, her hands still strumming away at her guitar!

Varian feels Ruddiger bite the ankle of his pant-leg, tugging at it. The raccoon obviously not wanting him to leave the room unsupervised. But Varian tugs even harder and gets loose. He whispers a quick “sorry bud.” Before wandering down the corridor.

His heart races, almost like it’s gonna explode in nervousness (Varian kind of hopes it does, it would help him in avoid initiating this conversation) 

The woman he calls mom is a tad bit taller than him (to Varian’s dismay) and he kind of wants to run into her arms and cry? But what if she was a random person having to deal with some teenager sobbing and calling them mom? That’d be kind of embarrassin-

‘ _Focus Varian, she’s still walking away from you_.’ His brain helpfully reminds.

“H-hey, hey you!” Varian speaks with a slight raised voice, not wanting to disturb the other patients probably resting.

  
And wow, that simply couldn’t have been a worse first impression. He’s kind of impressed by the sheer stupidity of it.

The woman doesn’t respond, or even react. She just keeps walking with her back turned.

Is his voice that quiet? Or is she ignoring him on purpose? Either way, he grits his teeth in preparation for the incoming wave of embarrassment as he tries following the other, being careful to not make it obvious that he’s following her.

He ends up following the woman he calls mom to the rooftop of the hospital. 

  
The rooftop huh? Maybe she heard him after all and wanted to speak in private?

The sun’s beginning to set, it’s rays illuminating the figure in front of him in a warm glow. Just like her gentle voice that’s made him feel safe and warm. The figure he calls mom turns towards him, smiling a melancholy smile. She opens her arms into an invitation of a hug, just like mom used to do...

With tear ridden eyes, Varian takes off into a sprint, now completely sure this is mom, no matter how much his scientific mind’s telling him he’s wrong. 

_‘I don’t want mom to leave me again. Please, whoever that is listening to me, allow me to stay by her side until the end.’_ he prays, jumping into the embrace.

…

… Only for him to reach out into thin air.

... _Huh?_

… Wasn’t there supposed to be a railing here?

******

Varian recalls that during the recent typhoon, a part of the hospital’s roof had been damaged.

He allows himself to feel the sheer terror of experiencing his worst fear.

...After all, nobody will save him this time, he’s truly alone.

…

******

He barely registered that he’s falling before he hits the concrete below, his body emitting a sound similar to something snapping that shouldn’t be snapped.

It all happens so quickly, almost like in the blink of an eye. He can’t feel anything due to the shock. All he can hear is the sound of his bones shattering and his skull cracking open as if it were an egg. 

His vision blurs, staring as the albumen - no, his  _ blood _ \- pools below him. 

Dots appears in his vision as the world slowly gets cast in a a muddy red, Varian vaguely registers someone screaming for help and an animal’s cries next to him, nudging his cheek. 

Varian’s often heard the saying that dying’s like falling asleep or fainting. He’s had a lot of experience in both to be honest. 

But this, this is _new_. It feels deeper, darker, more ominous. Without the promise of ever waking up again. 

Varian feels too tired to be scared anymore though. He feels too tired to really think at all. 

This is the end.

...

He won’t ever see the sunrise again.

...

How cruel.

...

******

“TRAGIC ACCIDENT AT ** HOSPITAL”

A patient who was suffering from severe chronic disorders was reported to have jumped off the roof at ** Hospital this evening. Although doctors rushed to undergo emergency surgery, the young man (16) eventually succumbed to his injuries several hours after the incident. Under the whole procedure and before he tragically flatlined the patient was documented humming an unknown melody under his breath. 

** Hospital is now currently getting heavy backlash by the public for neglecting repairs of the hospital roof, which had been discovered to have damages in the roof’s railing that may have led to the accident. Investigation is currently underway.

We sincerely hope nothing like this ever occurs again.

– Corona News

******

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this on a whim in the middle of the night. Saw a bunch of wonderful fics and got inspired. This is my cringey piece of trash and I’m proud.
> 
> (Fun fact: Some of this is based on my experiences but more....extreme. Yay)
> 
> RIP Varian.


End file.
